Apple is reportedly entertaining a formal entry into the mobile payments space, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apple Inc. is laying the groundwork for an expanded mobile-payments service, …

Apple Inc. is laying the groundwork for an expanded mobile-payments service, leveraging its growing base of iPhone and iPad users and the hundreds of millions of credit cards on file through its iTunes stores.

Apple, which already has an in-store mobile payments platform for its retail employees, has long possessed a strong interest in digital and mobile tech-based payments.

“Over the last few decades, cash has gradually fallen out of favor amongst consumers at large. Currently, two-thirds of the public prefer to make payments via credit and debit cards,” says the team at PayAnywhere, a top payment solutions provider in the U.S. “In the near future, another form of payment is set to further squeeze cash right out of the loop.”